


Yotsuba no Basuke

by KrisKris



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball, Yotsuba to! | Yotsuba&!
Genre: Canon-typical shenanigans, Comedy, Crossover, Family, Friendship, Gen, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Slice of Life, an oldie but a goodie, writer is not so knowledgeable about basketball but trying her best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 18:44:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18998356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrisKris/pseuds/KrisKris
Summary: The Ayases are away for the summer leaving poor Yotsuba by herself. As she soon discovers a basketball court at the park, she meets Taiga Kagami. Basketball and silly shenanigans ensue with Shintarou Midorima and many others.





	1. Yotsuba and Kagami

It was quiet in the Koiwai household. Dull and mundane as it always was when Yotsuba's father sat down in front of the computer screen, working. Much to Yotsuba's dismay, the Ayases' were visiting their grandparents for the summer, so no one was home. Yotsuba sat in the TV room by herself playing with Duralumin. She looked out the window as if that would make the Ayases would come home sooner.

"Duralumin, I'm bored," the small girl complained to her stuffed bear. "Are you bored?"

She hugged it tightly and it responded. " _Maaaa!_ "

"Yeah! I'm bored, too! Let's go check up on daddy!" Yotsuba climbed up the stairs and into her dad's office.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Yotsuba called out to him. She crawled under the table and popped up, squeezing out from under the table and onto her dad's lap, looking at the computer screen. "Are you done with work yet?"

"Nope. Not yet." Yousuke Koiwai replied.

"But, I'm bored." she whined.

"I'll be done soon,” he assured her. “Why don't you go to the park? I'll come get you when it's time for lunch. Okay?"

Her eyes brightened. "Okay!"

And with that, she scampered down the stairs and grabbed her bag with Duralumin in tow, placing her into her bag. Yotsuba slipped on her shoes, heading out the door.

"Bye, Daddy!" Yotsuba shouted. "I'll see you soon!"

 

Once she arrived at the park, she excitedly played on all the play structures. Yotsuba slid down the slide, swung on the swings and spun on the merry-go-round. She then climbed the monkey bars and jumped on the shaky bridge. After that, she made a sandcastle out of sticks, sand and leaves. She picked up a stick and drew a picture of herself and Duralumin. It was only an hour that she had been in the park and played on every play structure more than once and began to grow bored again.

"Duralumin, I'm bored." She sighed, holding up her bear. "I want to go home, but daddy said he'd come get me by lunch. What should we do?"

She glanced around the park and saw two open basketball courts on the opposite end. She had no idea what they were or what they were even called, but she excitedly ran up to get a better view.

Both sides of the court had tall, steel poles with a backboard. The backboard was rough and rigid due to weather and excessive play. Right below it was an orange loop and a worn-out net dangling below it. She walked up to the hoop and looked under, seeing an opening from above and wondered what it was used for.

 _Can Duralumin fit there?_ Yotsuba thought to herself, tilting her head curiously. She looked at Duralumin and back at the court. She took the bear out of her shoulder bag and looked up at the hoop again. She started tossing her into the air, trying to get the bear into the hoop. After several attempts, Duralumin finally made it into the hoop and down into the net. Finally! The shot was a success. Only one, slight problem: Duralumin never came back down.

"Uh-oh," Yotsuba began jumping as high as she can to try and reach Duralumin, but to no avail.

She was completely out of breath and panted heavily, walking away to grab a handful of sticks and stones, retreating back to the court throwing the rocks and sticks at the hoop, trying to get her out of the net. Sadly, the only part of the bear that managed to break free from the net was her head and one of her paws sticking out. She was close to getting her friend out from the imprisoning net.

Still no luck.

Yotsuba then picked up a slightly larger stick and used that to try and reach Duralumin but it still wasn't long enough. She stood there for a long time and pondered what else she could use to get Duralumin down with and had an idea.

She jumped onto the pole and started to climb but looked over and remembered what was supporting the hoop. Sulking, she slid back down and looked up at Duralumin. She remembered her dad would be going to the park to pick her up later. It was then that she began panicking and shouting throughout the park, flailing her arms.

"HELP! HELP!"

 

Taiga Kagami had just gotten back from practice. He felt a bit exhausted after Riko’s intense training regime but shooting hoops for a bit wouldn't hurt. As soon as he arrived at the park, he appeared to have missed something. Who was this green-haired girl and what was she shouting about? Kagami slowed to a stop when the little girl approached him and tugged at his shorts.

"Help! Duralumin won’t come out of the net!" She reached for his hand and ran, leading him to the basketball courts.

Kagami wasn't sure what was happening but he followed after her. After all, it sounded pretty urgent, but who on earth was Duralumin again?

As he was taken to the basketball court, the small girl pointed up at the hoop. He noticed a teddy bear curled up, upside down in the net with only its head and arms sticking out.

"No matter what I do, I can't get her down.” the girl explained, waving her arms around animatedly. “M-My Daddy is going to be really mad when he sees what I did."

She looked up him, pleadingly. "Can you get her down, _please?_ "

Kagami had no choice but to comply. The girl had asked nicely and there was no way he would let some small girl's doll remain stuck there and he couldn’t say no to such a cute face.

"Here, hold this for me." he said, handing her his basketball and walked up to the court. He jumped up and hit the net from the bottom, trying to get the bear out from underneath.

After a couple more jumps, the toy flew out of the net. Kagami reached for the bear but felt himself about to fall over. He grabbed the hoop but something on the backboard snapped and the redhead landed on his back. On one hand was the girl's bear and the other was the hoop. This was the second time he had broken a basketball court.

"AAAAHHHH!" he shouted, remaining on the ground with his arms and legs sprawled out.

The girl laughed at him. "You broke it! Hahaha!"

She laid down next to him, her arms and legs sprawled out the same way. She stared up at the sky as the silence between them was somewhat comfortable. She laid there for a moment before sitting up and held his basketball.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Oh, that." It was Kagami's turn to sit up. "It's a basketball."

"Basketball? So it goes in that net!" she said. "Right?"

"Right." _Am I seriously having this conversation with a four-year-old?_ He watched her bounce the ball.

"It's so bouncy!" She giggled.

"It sure is!" The redhead stood up and grabbed the ball as she bounced it again and began to dribble it.

"Wanna see how it works?" He asked.

"Yeah! Yeah!" The girl exclaimed. "I wanna see!"

Kagami then proceeded to dribble the ball around, doing a few shifts and turns before making a slam dunk on the opposite side of the court followed by a loud fling from the hoop.

"Wow! So cool!" The girl cheered. "Can you teach me how to do that!?"

"Sure, but," He looked around before asking. "Where's your parents?"

"Parrots?"

"No, your _parents_ ," Kagami said again. "You know, your mom? Your dad?"

"Daddy is working so he'll come get me at lunchtime."

"Your mom?"

"Oh, I don't have a mommy." she replied, "My Daddy said I was adopted."

Hearing the child say that so nonchalantly shocked him a bit. But, he didn't want to judge since she wasn't really bothered by it.

"Hey, tall man." The girl tugged at his shirt. "I don't know your name."

Tall? Was he that tall? Well, he was in Seirin's Basketball Team and he managed to make a few dunks so he supposed he was pretty tall. He was pretty much used to his height so it was a surprise for someone else to notice.

"Oh, my name?" Kagami had forgotten to introduce himself. "Taiga Kagami. I'm a first-year in Seirin's High School and I'm part of their basketball team.”

"I'm Yotsuba Koiwai!" she said. "I don't go to school yet and I'm six!" She held up her palm to him with all her fingers spread out to indicate the number, five.

"Are you five or…?"

"Six! Six!" Still, her hands said five.

He waved his hand as if to say he understood the gist. “Alright, alright, you're six."

"Can you teach me how to put the ball in like you did earlier?"

Kagami dribbled the ball a bit. "Sure, I'll go easy on you since you're pretty small."

"Yay!" Yotsuba cheered.

The two of them spent nearly the whole afternoon on the court. Kagami didn't have much trouble teaching Yotsuba how to play basketball, but she did hit her face with the ball because she forgot to catch it.

"Ball! Ball!" Yotsuba cried out, arms in the air. Kagami passed her the ball and watched as it bounced, hitting her in the face.

"Urk!" The redhead cringed. He wasn't sure what to do if she began crying, but he waited for her reaction.

She stared at him in complete and utter shock, her face red from the impact. "What the heck was that!?"

"EHH!?" _How does that not_ _faz_ _e her? It looked like it hit her pretty hard…_

"Teach me the jumpy thing! The jumpy thing!" She shouted, completely forgetting about what just happened.

"You mean a dunk?" he asked.

"Yeah! That one!"

"Alright," he said. "Now pick up the ball. I'll help you shoot it in."

Yotsuba picked up the ball and Kagami went behind her, picking her up and going over to the court as she dropped the ball and kept her hands on the hoop.

"Let me go!" She chirped.

Kagami let go of her underarms and she hung there for a good, long moment.

"Put me down!" she ordered and he obliged. "That was fun!" then she picked up Duralumin. "Her turn!"

“What do you take me for, an amusement park?!” he yelled.

As Kagami had just given Duralumin her share of dunking, he turned around to see a small group of children that were around Yotsuba's age crowding around him.

"I want a turn!" A small girl with short, dark hair and two dot eyes shouted.

"I want to try, too!" A little boy cried.

"Single file, everyone!" Yotsuba exclaimed, the kids falling in line as if to go on a ride.

"I'm not a play thing…" Kagami said as a huge, sweat drop slid down his head.

 

Koiwai had just finished work and shut down the computer, checking the time and saw it was late in the afternoon. It was time for him to pick up his daughter from the park for lunch. He put on some pants and slipped on his shoes before heading out the door, locking it behind him. The park was several blocks away so it didn't take him very long to get there.

He looked around for any sign of Yotsuba wandering around the park. With her green hair, she was hard to miss. Koiwai eventually spotted her asleep on the park bench, laying down on a red-haired man's lap. The red-head kept his eyes on the children playing on a nearby court with a basketball.

Koiwai approached him and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, but can I have my daughter back?" he said, pointing to Yotsuba who was snoozing on his lap.

"Oh! Yeah, sure," the man began to poke Yotsuba’s cheek, trying to wake her up. "Hey, Yotsuba-chan, your Dad's here."

“NO!” she shouted, slapping his hand away and covered her face.

"I'm sorry, she doesn't like to be woken up," Koiwai told him. "I can carry her. I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

"No, not at all," the man replied. "She did get her bear stuck on the basketball court, though.

"No surprises there. She always gets herself into these situations." Koiwai carefully picked up his daughter into his arms and rested her head onto his shoulder. "What was your name, by the way? It was rude of me not to ask."

"Taiga Kagami," the other introduced himself. "I'd prefer to just be called, 'Kagami'. And you?"

"Koiwai-san would be fine," he said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Same here." Kagami bowed out of respect.

Koiwai returned the bow with a smile and picked up Duralumin. "I'll be going then.” He turned around then reconsidered it and looked back at him.

"…Actually, I was just wondering if you would like to join us for lunch? It's payment for taking care of Yotsuba for me."

"What? No, I couldn't."

"I insist. It'd be nice for her to eat with a new friend for a change." Koiwai explained. "Also, I think she'd feel bad when she wakes up."

Kagami thought for a moment. Koiwai seemed like a nice guy. Also, he didn't want Yotsuba to feel bad and it wasn't often that he was invited to have lunch with anyone either. It wouldn't hurt to spend just a bit more time with her.

"I guess I can make some time for lunch." Kagami replied, getting up from the bench. He jogged over to the basketball court to retrieve his basketball the children had abandoned over the jungle gym before retreating back to Koiwai.

The two men left the park and headed back to Koiwai's place. On the way there, a couple of things crossed his mind: Who was this man and why did he look so familiar? He wasn't surprised to find Yotsuba befriending other people of a different age group, however, he couldn't shake the feeling of who this redhead was.

This was going to be an interesting summer for Yotsuba and her father.

 

-END-

 

**Next: Yotsuba & Midorima **


	2. Yotsuba and Midorima

It was another day for Shintarou Midorima, sitting on back of a rickshaw while his teammate, Takao Kazunari was riding up front. Takao was always the one in charge of lugging it around wherever they went and unfortunately, they never switch off as Midorima promised he would. One thing's for sure, though, something was different about Midorima, he was missing his lucky item. The entire morning, he felt very ansty and annoyed about the one thing he needed and could not find: his lucky item.  
  
It was a common sight that Midorima carried around a certain item from a little bear to a potted plant, having never left home without it. Today, Shutoku was having a home game today against another school and without Midorima's precious, lucky item, their team was doomed (at least, in his case). Unfortunately for Midorima, it was a fairly rare item he needed for today's horoscope and even the fields by the bridge were scarce of clovers.  
  
"Takao," he spoke up, looking at his teammate's hunched back.  
  
"Yeah, what is it?" The dark-haired man responded, huffing and puffing with each turn of the pedal, running out of breath as he continued onward toward the school. It was a good work-out in his cardio but he needed most of his energy since he would also be the one playing on the court.  
  
"Find me a four-leaf." Midorima demanded more than asked.  
  
"Eh?!" Takao shouted, accidentally riding over a rock on the road and yelped. "Wh-Where on earth am I going to find one in that amount of time?! Shin-chan, you know we have a game today."  
  
"I know, but without my lucky item, my shots will miss."  
  
Takao let out an exasperated sigh. Was he seriously acting like it meant that much to the team? They were better off without it. One of the other teammates were planning on breaking it since it was always in the way.  
  
"Shin-chan," Takao began. "I'm not really sure you'll be getting a lucky item today. I mean, it's not like you'll die without it. Besides, it won't miraculously appear out of the clear, blue sky."  
  
At first, silence then a scream rang out from the quiet neighborhood. A small green-haired girl with four pigtails, ran out of the house and into Takao's line of sight. "AAAHH!"  
  
Takao quickly reached for the brakes to stop the rickshaw, tires screeching onto the concrete, causing Midorima to stumble over in the back. "Takao, you idiot!" He yelled.  
  
"Yotsuba, I was just kidding! There's no spider!" The dark-haired man shouted at his daughter. He stopped when he saw Midorima standing by the gate.  
  
"C-Can I help you?" He asked, confused.  
  
"I would like to borrow Yotsuba for today's game." Midorima told him, urgently.  
  
"Eh?! Shin-chan!" Takao was surprised at how straight-forward his teammate was being. Wait. The lucky item wasn't an object, but a person? And, a small child at that.  
  
Takao approached the two men, trying to explain the situation. "You'll have to forgive him, he's-"  
  
"Today's lucky item for Cancers is 'Yotsuba'."  
  
The man stared as if he were crazy, but he was standing in front of his house, barefoot, without any pants on so he had no room to judge. "Why don't you go find a four-leaf clover?" He looked over at his daughter. "Yotsuba, come inside!"  
  
"You don't understand! I need her!"  
  
This took Takao by surprise. His friend was actually... begging?! Today was an interesting day indeed.  
  
On close inspection, the two men who were standing at his house both had on matching, orange tracksuits that had black letters which read 'Shutoku' on the left side of their jackets.  
  
_Shutoku..._ It was a famous high school in Tokyo. _So this must be the basketball team Jumbo was talking about._ Before he could open his mouth to speak, Yotsuba cut him off with an excited, yet curious tone in her voice.

"I'm a lucky item? What's that?!" She looked up at the man with dark-green hair. "Hey, Mister! We both have green hair! We're matching!" she shouted. "What's your name?"  
  
The green-haired man twitched and pushed back his glasses. "Shintarou Midorima." He said. "You're today's lucky item. I would like to borrow you."  
  
"Shin-chan..." The other said a bit nervously. "I don't think you should say it like that..."  
  
"I'm a lucky item? Cool! Where are we going?" Yotsuba asked him.  
  
"Shutoku," Midorima replied. "There's a game today and I need my lucky item."  
  
Yotsuba didn't know what on earth he was talking about but, being a lucky item sounded like a lot of fun.  
  
"A lucky item." Yotsuba repeated to herself, looking at her father, starry-eyed. "Can we go, Daddy?"  
  
Koiwai looked at his daughter. Her expectant eyes were just waiting for him to say, 'yes'. He was done with work for today and they had nothing else to do. Also, it was probably going to be Yotsuba's first ever trip to seeing a basketball game and they haven't really stepped out of the house together for a long time. There was no harm in tagging along with a couple of high school students.  
  
"I don't see why not." he smiled and gave a shrug. 'Sure, let's go!"  
  
"Yay! You hear that? I get to go!" Yotsuba said to Takao. "I get to go!"  
  
"Yeah!" Takao agreed, kneeling beside her. "Basketball's really cool!"  
  
"It is!" she piped up, raising her arms with glee. "I learned how to do a slam dunk the other day!"  
  
Takao was genuinely impressed and gasped. "Wow, really?!"  
  
Koiwai looked down and realized he was only wearing his shirt and boxers. "Please give us a few minutes." He said, opening the gate. "Come inside if you'd like. Come on, Yotsuba, let's get ready."  
  
"Yay!" She cheered again before following her dad back into the house.  
  
"Well, well, Shin-chan. Guess today is your lucky day."  
  
"Of course it is," he nodded, making his way inside. "It's a good day for Cancers."  
  
Several minutes later, Koiwai and his daughter were ready to go. Yotsuba was wearing a white shirt with long, orange sleeves. She had on her shoulder bag with Duralumin safely on the pouch. Koiwai put on a pair of jeans, a gray cardigan and grabbed his messenger bag.  
  
As Yotsuba stepped out of the house, she noticed the rickshaw upon first glance "What's that?" she asked, pointing at it.  
  
"We came all this way here in that." Takao explained, moving it from its parking spot. "And I'm driving it."  
  
"WOOOOW!" she gasped. "Can I go in?"  
  
"Of course," Midorima replied. "You are the lucky item, after all."  
  
"Koiwai-san?" Takao nodded over to the back. "You can jump in if you want."  
  
"Thanks, but I'd rather bike there myself." He said, cringing when he imagined Takao, biking around town with three people in one rickshaw. "It looks pretty small. I think you're better off with just those two."  
  
"That's good to hear." Takao sighed, relieved to hear Koiwai decline his offer.  
  
Yotsuba was struggling to get on the rickshaw. Still, she kept trying to get in on her own and continued to struggle while the other three simply watched her.  
  
"Would you like some help?" Takao offered, ready to give her a hand when she made no success Her father eventually intervened since they were on borrowed time and didn't want them to be late.  
  
"Let's go!" Yotsuba shouted as Midorima hopped in after her. Koiwai pulled out his bike ahead of time and had just sat down.  
  
It was Yotsuba's first time riding in a rickshaw and her first of anything in almost a long time since her days without the Ayases. Koiwai was happy to see Yotsuba was having fun this week. Just the other day, she befriended Kagami at the park, now she was about to go see a real basketball match in person. She was a very lucky girl indeed.  
  
It was at least half an hour later and still no sign of Midorima or Takao anywhere. Their team captain, Taisuke Otsubo, was not impressed. He was pacing up and down the locker room, glancing down at an imaginary watch in annoyance and tapped his foot as he grew impatient.  
"Game's about to start," he muttered, rubbing his temples. "We'll have just have to start without them."  
  
One of his teammates, Miyaji, had already gotten annoyed by this and finally snapped. "That's it. Someone get me a pineapple so I can throw it in Midorima's face when he gets here."  
  
"I'll give you all the pineapples you need." His other teammate, Kimura, offered. As if that was going to help fix the situation at hand.  
  
"And, maybe another pineapple for that little item of his."  
  
One by one, each player paused and stared at him and the locker room began to slowly quiet down. The blond was beginning to feel uncomfortable when he noticed Kimura staring at him as well. Confused, he looked around at his teammates, realizing it wasn't him they were looking at but behind him.  
  
He turned and saw a small, green-haired girl in four-pigtails holding a teddy bear in her arms. She kept a happy smiled on her face, not noticing the glances that came her way and shouted, "I'M THE LUCKY ITEM!"  
  
The whole locker room was shot down with silence and grew pale with the expression as if they had seen a ghost.  
  
Miyaji had his face buried in his hands in remorse, slumping onto a nearby bench as his friend sat next to him, patting his back. "How could I have said that, I'd never harm a child!" he wailed.  
  
Kimura consoled him with a pat to the back. "We can still give her a pineapple, for a fruit salad."  
  
"There you two are. Hurry and change into your uniforms." Their captain ordered as Midorima and Takao stepped into the locker room. "Game's about to start."  
  
"I'm Yotsuba Koiwai!" Yotsuba shouted to the other teammates.  
  
"What's today's lucky item, a child?" Otsubo gave Midorima a look. "I didn't think you'd stoop so low as to kidnap a child."  
  
"Her father is in the stands.&rdquoTakao explained, defending his friend. "We didn't steal her. You could even ask him."  
  
Their coach, Masaaki Nakatani, was a middle-aged man in his forties. He may not look it, but he was formerly part of Japan's national basketball team. He was obviously ignoring the outbursts from earlier but he was fully aware of Yotsuba's presence.  
  
"It's almost time," he said to his team.  
  
He had them seated and explained a quick recap of their strategy with every one of them, attentively listened as their coach explained their plan. It was very tense in the room from uninterrupted silence, until a small sound broke them from their train of thought.  
  
" _Maaaa!_ "  
  
They looked down at Yotsuba who was sitting crossed-legged on the floor by Midorima's feet. The girl giggled and hugged Duralumin.  
  
_It's impossible to get mad at someone this cute!_ The whole team thought in unison.  
  
Midorima merely pushed back his glasses, saying nothing. "Tch."  
  
Some of them chuckled before continuing their discussion for another while before it was time to head out.  
  
For the most part, Yotsuba was excited. She had no idea what basketball was about or what it even was. All she knew was that she couldn't wait to watch and grateful to be a lucky item, whatever that meant. As they headed out, Yotsuba had noticed something about Midorima which she hadn't earlier: his fingers on his left hand was taped with bandages.  
  
"What happened to your hand, did you hurt yourself?" she asked.  
  
Midorima looked at his taped fingers. "I must not influence them.&rdquo he told her. "My shots depend on my nails."  
  
"Wooow," Yotsuba was intrigued. "So that's what nails do."  
  
_No, they don't._ The team thought, unamused.  
  
At the bench, they all huddled together with Yotsuba including herself somehow. Otsubo looked at her and ask, "Want to wish us good luck?"  
  
"Yeah!" She cheered, raising her fist. "Let's do this thing!"  
  
"YEAH!" They shouted and stepped out to the court, facing the opposing team.  
  
Both sides lined up with a somewhat slightly larger difference in number. Some of their opponents laughed and chuckled at them. Shutoku's lineup was confused, they seem to have everything together until one of the players pointed at their feet.  
  
Kimura glanced down, seeing Yotsuba standing right next to him. "Hey! Y-You shouldn't be here!"  
  
Both sides laughed at what they had just witnessed.  
  
"Midorima," Otsubo scolded him. "Please tell your precious lucky item to go sit with the coach and the others.  
  
Midorima sighed and went to retrieve Yotsuba and brought her over to the miscellaneous teammates sitting on the bench. They also couldn&rsquot contain their laughter, sounding like annoying, little imps in his ears.  
  
"Stay here until we're finished." Midorima told her sternly before returning to the court.  
  
In the stands somewhere, Koiwai let out an exasperated sigh. He felt worried, hoping she wouldn't cause any more trouble for the team. Otherwise, he'd try to find a way down there to get her then he overheard a couple of schoolgirls giggling nearby.  
  
"Who's that little girl?" A girl with twin braids wondered.  
  
"Maybe Midorima-senpai's little sister?" her short-haired friend guessed. "I didn't know he had any siblings."  
  
Koiwai smiled to himself, at least some people were already quite fond of her. She was always the topic of conversation from strangers because of how adorable and likable she was. Yotsuba was a treasure and he was glad to have her in his life.  
  
During the first quarter of the game, Yotsuba watched as the ball was moving all around the court being passed, shot and bounced around as both teams were chasing it and jumping to reach it, wanting to score. It was pretty intense and she cheered along with the benched players as Midorima shot a three-pointer, the fall flawlessly making a loud, swoosh sound as it flew into the hoop.  
  
"Wooow..." Yotsuba was amazed by how swiftly the ball landed into the hoop, scoring three more points for Shutoku. She didn't know why but she felt like she knew the name of the opposing team but had forgotten the name. It sounded oddly familiar, though.  
  
"This is very interesting." She pulled on the sleeves of one of the players sitting right next to her and pointed at the court. "Hey, how does he make that board thing change numbers?"  
  
"Uh? Well, that was a three-pointer." The player explained. "We get three points more than the other team when the ball goes into the hoop. Especially, behind the three-point line."  
  
"So was he standing on it?"  
  
"He's pretty annoying but he gets the job done."  
  
"Ohh! I see!" Yotsuba replied, nodding. "I understand now."  
  
"Do you?" The player asked, a sweat drop sliding down his head.  
  
It wasn't until the second quarter that Yotsuba started to dose off. It had gotten harder and harder for her to keep her eyes open.  
  
Koiwai was about to stand. He knew the look on her face and her actions meant nap time. As he got up, one of the players noticed and began talking to her. She rubbed her eyes and exchanged a few words with him and nodded, rubbing her eyes. He wanted to know what they were talking about but realized as soon as he saw his daughter lay down on the bench, the player she was just talking to, brought out his jacket and placed it over her body as she was starting to nap. Yotsuba may have asked something of him because he nodded and pat her head. She smiled and nuzzled her stuffed bear before falling asleep.  
  
Koiwai smiled, seeing as how that was handled nicely. He would have to thank that team member for taking good care of Yotsuba later.  
  
It was nearly the end of the fourth quarter and Yotsuba was still asleep. The captain had just finished speaking to his team, time out was almost over.  
  
The team cheered loudly. "YEAH!"  
  
Yotsuba jolted up from her nap. "AAAH!" She screamed. "DID WE WIN?!"  
  
The entire team was nervous about the outcome of the match, knowing fully well they would win but the tension was killing them. They had a good laugh and now felt motivated to win.  
  
"I see you're awake," Takao said. "The game's not over, but look! We're winning!"  
  
He pointed at the scoreboard it read, 175-77. Shutoku was clearly in the lead being the victor.  
  
"Time-out over!" The ref called out, sending the players back to the court.  
  
Yotsuba watched as the team assumed their positions. She jumped down from the bench and shouted, "GOOD LUCK, SHIN-CHAN!"  
  
"Eh? Shin-chan?" One of the team members wondered as they all looked at Midorima as Takao flashed a smile.  
  
He scoffed and turned away, pushing his glasses back. "Hmph."  
  
Yotsuba waved as they continued the final quarter of the game to victory.  
  
After the game, Koiwai waited patiently outside for Takao or Midorima to walk out with his daughter. What he didn't expect was the entire team walking out with smiles on their faces. Yotsuba was sitting on a team member's shoulders as they were all still very excited even as the game had long ended.  
  
Takao was the first to greet him. "Koiwai-san! How'd you like the game? Isn't Shin-chan pretty impressive?"  
  
"I guess so," Koiwai replied. "Who I was really worried about was Yotsuba."  
  
"She wasn't any trouble, at the start of the game that was pretty funny, though."  
  
Koiwai chuckled, "I have to admit that was pretty funny."  
  
"We're heading out for some ramen to celebrate." Takao said. "Wanna come along? The players really seem to like Yotsuba."  
  
"Ramen sounds great, congrats on the victory."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Come on, Daddy, let's go!" Yotsuba cheered as the player ran ahead. Her father walked along with the rest of the team.  
  
Takao stopped in his tracks, noticing his friend was still standing in the back. "Shin-chan? You know, if we don't hurry, we'll be left behind."  
  
"I'm coming." he said, and his friend rushed after the others. Midorima let a smile form along his lips as he looked down at a drawing Yotsuba had given to him. "Tch."  
  
She was more than just a lucky item.

 

-END-

 

**Next: Yotsuba and Riko**

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on my ff.net account but I have since moved on from there. I decided to transfer some of my work here instead. If you are familiar with this fic from ff.net, it involved a lot of editing. I had fun working on this to see how much I’ve changed and in fact, a lot has changed but each chapter is still in the exact same order they were posted in.
> 
> Can’t wait to see this to the end. If I ever will lol
> 
> P.S. This was edited so many times, I had to post it up now in case I lose it again.


End file.
